Hyundai Motorsport integrates French driver Bryan Bouffier into its test driver line-up Bouffier will join the team on several development tests ahead of the 2015 season throughout the rest of this year The team also announces its participation in Rallye Antibes Côte d’Azur – part of the French Rally Championship – where Bouffier will drive the Hyundai i20 WRC on tarmac in a competition environment.

Alzenau, Germany

April 30, 2014 – Hyundai Motorsport has announced today that French driver Bryan Bouffier will join the team again as part of its 2014 test driver line-up. Bouffier previously contributed to the young Alzenau-based team in the development of the Hyundai i20 WRC last year ahead of its return to the FIA World Rally Championship.

The Frenchman’s skills and capabilities will be used by Hyundai Motorsport in a number of development tests ahead of 2015 which will be carried out in parallel to the series of pre-event WRC rally tests.

Hyundai Motorsport also takes the opportunity to announce its participation in Rallye Antibes Côte d’Azur – round four of the French Rally Championship, which will mark Bouffier’s 2014 debut with the team. The participation to the French event will be used as an opportunity to test the Hyundai i20 WRC on tarmac in preparation for the asphalt rounds of the WRC later this year.

Hyundai Motorsport will enter one Hyundai i20 WRC test car at Rallye Antibes Côte d’Azur with the aim of acquiring valuable mileage and data in a competitive environment on tarmac. The event offers the advantage of allowing the participation of WRC cars and it fits well in the team’s busy testing and rallying schedules.

Team Principal Michel Nandan said: “We are happy to welcome Bryan back into the team after the great job he did with us last year. We have been talking for a while now and we decided that he definitely deserved another opportunity. He will be with us in various development tests throughout the year as we prepare for 2015 and I’m sure that once again he will help a lot. We decided to participate in Rallye Antibes Côte d’Azur next month to do some mileage on tarmac and test some components for the second half of the season in a competitive environment rather than in a traditional test session. Having won Rallye Antibes before and being a French tarmac rally specialist, Bryan was the obvious choice for this event which we will treat the event as a test for collection of data to continue the development of the Hyundai i20 WRC.”

Bouffier and co-driver Xavier Panseri are three-time Polish Rally Champions and clinched the French Rally Championship in 2010. In addition to their strong performance at the iconic Rallye Monte-Carlo this year, the pair also won the event when it was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2011 and dominated the legendary Tour de Corse (European Rally Championship) in 2013. The Frenchman’s vast experience as a test driver and previous involvement with the Hyundai Motorsport make him a perfect addition to the team’s current line-up.

Bouffier commented: “I’m really happy to be again a part of the Hyundai Motorsport team. We had a very cooperative collaboration in 2013 and I’m glad we can continue it throughout this year as well. I will be joining some of the team’s development tests during this season and I will do my best to help them to prepare for the 2015 season, bringing my experience and knowledge and giving the team the most detailed feedback possible. I’m also grateful to be given the opportunity to drive the Hyundai i20 WRC at Rallye Antibes, an event I won back in 2006 and where I enjoy driving every time I go there. The aim is to do some good mileage on tarmac and give the team as much feedback as possible for the remainder of the season.”

Based in the French Côte d’Azur, Rallye Antibes gets underway on the weekend of 30-31 May featuring some of the roads of Rallye Monte-Carlo. The itinerary includes 12 special stages – six repeated twice – totalling 212km of competitive kilometres.

About Hyundai Motor Company Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is committed to becoming a lifetime partner in automobiles and beyond. The company, which leads the Hyundai Motor Group, an innovative business structure capable of circulating resources from molten iron to finished cars, offers top-quality best-sellers such as Elantra, Sonata and Genesis. Hyundai Motor has seven manufacturing bases and seven design & technical centers outside of South Korea and in 2013, sold 4.73 million vehicles globally. With almost 100,000 employees worldwide, Hyundai Motor continues to enhance its product line-up with localized models and strives to strengthen its leadership in clean technology, starting with the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen-powered vehicle, ix35 Fuel Cell.

About Hyundai Motorsport GmbH Established on 19 December 2012, Hyundai Motorsport GmbH is responsible for Hyundai’s global motorsport activities and primarily for its World Rally Championship programme. Based in Alzenau on the outskirts of Frankfurt in Germany, the company has embarked on its debut season in the FIA World Rally Championship in 2014 with a bespoke team of skilled staff and a brand new car, the Hyundai i20 WRC.

LUSAIL (Qatar): Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah cruised through the final six gravel special stages of the Manateq Qatar International Rally to seal a convincing victory on Saturday.

A record-breaking 14th victory in his home event also marked a remarkable 70th MERC victory in the 211-event history of the FIA Middle East Rally Championships since 1984. His French co-driver Matthieu Baumel duly claimed his third win in Qatar and a career 18th in the MERC.

The success also marked the first outright FIA championship rally win for Volkswagen’s Polo GTI R5 that made its debut at the WRC in Spain last October and claimed WRC 2 success in Sweden in February with Norwegian driver Ole Christian Veiby. Customer Polos have already won national events in Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Latvia this year

Hello Friends & fans, thank you deeply I want their daily tracking, by my reports, photos, links of my fanpages work, teams, drivers, videos and everything related to the activity that we love, and unites us in every day, RALLY, especially the WRC. We came together to 11,000 friends who share this passion, and work with me.

I love them dearly, a big hug and go for more. I give this exciting picture of one of my favorite cars, say legendary Subaru Impreza WRC 555 who manned the Rally of Catalonia in Spain 2002, the Norwegian the Viking Petter Solberg and his Welsh navigator Phil Mills beside the historic British company Prodrive, under the financial support from Mitaka in Tokyo in Japan by STI.